Laboratory News

Stay informed about our latest research achievements, publications, awards, and media coverage from the Dynamics and Control Systems Laboratory.

Prof. Tsiotras delivers the Plenary talk at the 2026 American Control Conference (ACC)

During the 2026 American Control Conference, Prof. Tsiotras delivered the talk "From Covariance Control to Covariance Steering: The First 40 Years". The talk summarized covariance control and covariance steering as a way to mitigate uncertainty in stochastic systems and reviewed some recent results on covariance and distribution control for stochastic systems subject to probabilistic (chance) constraints, robust and data-driven distributional control, and will demonstrate the application of the theory to solve problems on control, robotics, and generative AI applications.

Read full article

Story on Penumbra Autonomy: New Space Startups Take Off at Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech’s faculty startup engine Quadrant-i (Q-i), together with the Space Research Institute, launched the first cohort of the CreationsVC Space Fellows Program. Penumbra Autonomy, a startup founded by Prof. Panagiotis Tsiotras, Juan Diego Florez-Castillo, and Iason Velentzas from the DCSL, is part of this cohort. The company aims to commercialize algorithms that help spacecraft maneuver when they have limited information on their environment.

Read full article

Prof. Tsiotras speaks at the National Academies webinar "Mathematics in Flight"

Prof. Panagiotis Tsiotras joined Karen Marais (Purdue University) for "Mathematics in Flight: Innovation by the Numbers," a National Academies webinar moderated by Jordan Ellenberg (University of Wisconsin-Madison). Aimed at policymakers and a general audience, the panel discussed the foundational role mathematics plays in allowing aircraft to take off, navigate, and arrive safely, drawing on flight mechanics, control, and decision-making.

Read full article

Travis Driver wins the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Best Paper Award

The paper "Keypoint-based Stereophotoclinometry for Characterizing and Navigating Small Bodies: A Factor Graph Approach," by Travis Driver, Andrew Vaughan, Yang Cheng, Adnan Ansar, John Christian, and Panagiotis Tsiotras, received the 2024 AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Best Paper Award. The work was carried out with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.

Read full article

Prof. Tsiotras explains Hubble's shift to one-gyro mode in The Conversation

Writing for The Conversation, Prof. Panagiotis Tsiotras explained how the Hubble Space Telescope keeps its precise pointing after moving to one-gyro operations. The article describes how spacecraft attitude control systems work and how NASA compensates for failed gyroscopes using star trackers, sun sensors, and magnetometers. It was republished by phys.org, Discover Magazine, and other outlets.

Read full article

Jack Ridderhof wins the AIAA Best Student Paper Award

Jack Ridderhof received the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Best Student Paper Award at the 2019 AIAA SciTech Forum in San Diego, for "Minimum-Fuel Powered Descent in the Presence of Random Disturbances," written with his advisor, Prof. Panagiotis Tsiotras. The paper addresses steering a spacecraft to a pinpoint landing on Mars under random disturbances, incorporating structured uncertainty into guidance and control design for entry, descent, and landing.

Read full article

Prof. Tsiotras receives the IEEE CSS Award for Technical Excellence in Aerospace Control

Prof. Panagiotis Tsiotras received the IEEE Control Systems Society Award for Technical Excellence in Aerospace Control, "for outstanding contributions in control theory and transitions to aerospace applications." The award recognizes an aerospace control engineering activity that demonstrates excellence and significant results with demonstrated impact.

Read full article

Media Coverage on AutoRally Project

The lab's work has been featured in popular media, including FoxNews Atlanta and a South Korean radio station for interviews on autonomous and interconnected vehicles. Tech News World covered their work on "Google Puts Cute Little Rides on the Road," "Talking Cars Coming Down the Pike," and "Ford Steps on the Driverless-Car Gas." TechXplore reported on "AstroSLAM: Autonomous Navigation of Spacecraft during Deep-space Missions." The AutoRally project received extensive media coverage from outlets such as ScienceDaily, CNET, IEEE Spectrum, Business Insider, Popular Science, Daily Mail, Gizmodo, The Register, Gizmag, Live Science, Phys.org, Autoblog, Independent, SpaceDaily, and PDDNet.

Read full article

Professor Tsiotras Receives Outstanding Aerospace Engineer Award

Professor Tsiotras also received the Purdue University 2014 School of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Outstanding Aerospace Engineer (OAE) award.

Read full article

ONR Research Project on the Science of Autonomy

The ONR project, "A Framework for Bounded Rationality Autonomy Using Neuromorphic Decision and Action Models," is funded for $1.7M over four years, with UCLA and the University of Southern California also part of the research team.

Read full article

Nuno Filipe Wins Best Student Paper Award

Nuno Filipe won the best student paper award at the AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference in 2013.

Read full article

Prof. Tsiotras receives the AIAA Distinguished Service Award

Prof. Panagiotis Tsiotras received the Distinguished Service Award from the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Technical Committee.

MURI Award for Neuro-Inspired Adaptive Perception and Control

Professor Panagiotis Tsiotras received a MURI award of $6.25M for five years for "Neuro-Inspired Adaptive Perception and Control for Agile Mobility of Autonomous Vehicles in Uncertain and Hostile Environments," collaborating with MIT and the University of Southern California.

Read full article

Stay Connected

Follow our research updates and explore our open-source projects

GitHub YouTube